2019 was a great year for stock investors. The S&P 500 gained almost 32% including dividends, making it both a strong bounce-back from 2018 and one of the best years in what has been a great decade. A big reason the market had a solid year was the performance of many financial stocks; the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF, which tracks the financials in the S&P 500, paced the market’s 32% in total returns last year.

A select group of financial stocks did even better, with the top 10 companies that specialize in lending, banking, insurance, capital management, or several other financial services generating between 84% and 194% in total returns in 2019. Let’s take a closer look at 2019’s best financial…